Edmonton Oilers Talk: “He hasn’t shown enough in the looks he’s had to become a fixture…”

Coming from an Edmonton Oilers point of view, BLH provides you with excerpts from the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation from all of the internet’s best sites including Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, Sportsnet, The Athletic, TSN and more!

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Copper N Blue (Chapman)

Forecasting Mike Smith’s 2021-22 Season

A .923 SV% in 32 games would be spectacular, though I think Tippett will move to have Smith play in at least half of the 82 game regular season in 2021-22. There’s always the chance that Mikko Koskinen comes in and blows the doors off in training camp and emerges with the starting gig, but based on what we’ve seen over the last six months it’s clear that Smith has an inside track to being the number one today.
I’ve got Smith starting about 45 games this season, finishing with a SV% near .910 and two shutouts.
I don’t think the defence will be as solid this year as it was last year. Bringing in Duncan Keith for any sort of measurable time on the second pair to be paired with one of Tyson Barrie, Cody Ceci or Evan Bouchard could cause headaches for everyone involved, and that includes the netminders.

BLH’s Thoughts: I’m not as optimistic as Chapman with Smith, I think he’s going to end the year with something closer to .905 SV%, but he’ll have more than two shutouts and I’ve noticed a more emotional Oilers team play in front of him when he stats, so I reckon he’ll have a lot of wins but the GAA and SV% won’t be pretty.

It’s not very nice, but he was playing for a contract last year and unless he’s the reincarnation of Dominik Hasek from 2005/06 (40yrs old, 43gp, 2.37gaa, .925sv%, 28-10-5), I think he’ll come back to Earth a bit.

The Athletic (Mitchell)

Lowetide: The Oilers and value contracts. Three now, two later

Best value players for 2021-22

RW Jesse Puljujarvi ($1.175M): A full season should result in 20-plus goals and could bring more if things break right.
RHD Evan Bouchard ($863k): …his 1.27 points per 60 at five-on-five ranks No. 2 among Oilers defencemen and No. 10 among all skaters, meaning Bouchard can be expected to easily clear 20 points at five-on-five in a full season… if the young defender gets on the No. 1 power play he could clear 40 points in his first full NHL season.
RW Kailer Yamamoto (RFA): In spite of two false starts to his NHL career when he was a teenager, and a terrible slump to end the 2020-21 campaign (two goals in the final 26 games) his NHL scoring numbers are 19-28-47 in the last two seasons (79 games). If he can duplicate those numbers and come in under $2.1 million (he’s currently a restricted free agent) Yamamoto will be a value deal.

Best value players for 2022-23

LW Dylan Holloway: …can play centre or wing but hasn’t played one game of pro hockey. There are three seasons of entry-level dollars ($925,000) straight ahead for Holloway and he’s likely to be a value deal in two of them.
RC Xavier Bourgault: Bourgault will turn 20 in October 2022, meaning a possible early exit from junior hockey, plus his shooting percentage suggests he could emerge quickly from the pack as a first-shot scorer.

BLH’s Thoughts: I really believe that Ryan McLeod is going to be a revelation for this team. His size, speed, and hands are going to cause opposing clubs fits. I wonder if he gets some time on the PK just because of those skills and the fact that he could be a very dangerous scoring threat too.

Oilersnation (Brownlee)

At Random: Housekeeping

With the big names signed and the big money spent, we’re into the period of the off-season when Edmonton Oilers’ GM Ken Holland and his counterparts are taking care of housekeeping items on their to-do list.
Inconsistency has been the name of Perlini’s game as a pro. He’s shown he can skate. He’s shown he can score, but that comes and goes. Not knowing what they are going to get from a player game in and game out drives coaches up the wall.
When Holland looks at adding a veteran depth player to the blueline, we keep hearing Slater Koekkoek’s name come up.
- Koekkoek, 27, had barely settled in last season when a busted collarbone knocked him out of the line-up. Simply put, Koekkoek is a meat-and-potatoes guy – he’s a defender first and foremost who gets in the way of pucks and people.
…we wouldn’t even be talking about Koekkoek as an option if William Lagesson was further along the development curve.
- Lagesson is 25, but he’s only got 27 NHL games on his resume. He hasn’t shown enough in the looks he’s had to become a fixture in Tippett’s third pairing, and I don’t think you can put him alongside Bouchard to start this season.

BLH’s Thoughts: Wild Bill’s always been a bit of a late bloomer, but when he’s found his stride, he’s really become an excellent contributor. Would it make sense for the Oilers to give him 30 games this year to see if he can work things out? I mean, how much difference is there between Russell and Lagesson skill-wise? I mean, I’d go as far as to say that the Swede is much more skilled and has as much gumption as Russell but hasn’t the experience quite yet and the Oilers need cycle breakers on their defense pretty badly after the departure of Adam Larsson…

NHLRumors.com

Lance Lysowski: While including Zibanejad in a deal for Eichel would definitely make the money work, but would Zibanejad be willing to waive his no-movement clause?
- Would think that a third team would need to be involved as it would be hard to see Zibanejad willing to waive his NMC to come to the Buffalo Sabres.
Jimmy Murphy: Boston Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said on TSN 1200 that can he can see goaltender Tuukka Rask playing again.
Jimmy Murphy: Cassidy also said on TSN 1200 that David Krejci could return to the NHL and the Bruins.
Larry Brooks of the NY Post: New York Rangers defenseman Adam Fox will be a restricted free agent after next season. He’ll likely be looking for over $9 million and possibly upwards of $10.5 million per season.
Vincent Z. Mercogliano of Lohud: The Rangers may not be targeting any center other than Jack Eichel. Of the remaining players that have come up in the rumors or in free agency, all appear to be lateral moves from Ryan Strome or a downgrade.
- Washington Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov could be available, but he’s recorded fewer points than Strome the past two seasons.
- Offensively Christian Dvorak (Arizona Coyotes) and Sean Monahan (Calgary Flames) have also produced less than Strome.